Hunting and Fishing Days

It is finally approaching fall like weather, which I adore.  I hate being too hot, so I tend to stick to the indoors in the summer.  Now that it is cooling off I am on the look out for outdoor activities for us to do with Ben!  This weekend we got lucky and happened to hear about Hunting and Fishing Days at the state park near us.  Neither Pat nor I had ever been to it before, but it was free admission.  Outdoor event and free?  Yeah, that’s all it takes to get our attention.

We were so happy we went!  We had a ton of fun!  Right when we headed in the actual event we saw a giant fish tank full of different lake fish.  Ben went right for it.  Whenever we are at Meijers or a pet store we always have to stop and look at the fish.  He seemed to really enjoy how big these guys were!  There was a demonstration of dogs who were jumping into the lake to retrieve things.  Ben really liked watching the dogs jump into the lake, although we didn’t get to see very much of it sadly.  

Most of what we did beyond watching the fish and the dogs was walk around and look at everything that was set up.  They had an historic campground to walk through.  Pat and I liked that, but Ben isn’t quite old enough to appreciate that kind of thing yet. 😉  We watched people fish and canoe on the lake.  We did find a quiet place to stop and throw some rocks into the pond, Ben’s favorite activity.  Before we left we stopped for a treat- snow cones!  It was Ben’s first time having a snow cone.  He loved it.  We weren’t sure, as he doesn’t always like really cold stuff.  (Seriously, we have to melt his ice cream a bit.)  We shouldn’t have worried though.  Because what is the best part of eating a snow cone?  That’s right, using a straw to suck out all the sugar water as it melts.  So that is pretty much what Ben did.  I know, not the healthiest thing in the world to let him do.  But really of all the treat options there, snow cones were probably the best option.  The three of us shared two of them.  This way Ben didn’t have to wait while we melted down ice, and Pat and I got to take turns eating ourselves.  I’m not sure how that will work when we have three kids…  At least for now it works well.

Overall it was a really pleasant little outing!  The event had a shooting range and falconry demonstration you could get to by bus, but we opted not to do that this year.  We didn’t think it would hold Ben’s attention, and the idea of a two year old who likes to make a break for it by a shooting range sounded like a bad one.  There were several activities geared right at kids, and I think Ben will really enjoy them when he is a bit older.  Right now he was content to be outside with Mommy and Daddy and watch all the people.  Oh, and eat a snow cone. 🙂